The present invention relates to means to wash, debride, dry and treat the skin between toes.
As people age, skin normally becomes thin and dry, and the toes may be distorted by pressures from tight, high styled shoes and bunions, corns and hammer toes. In addition there may be manifestations of poor health and circulation, arthritis, Diabetes, stroke, etc. All of the foregoing cause toes to deform into substantially irregular square and triangular shapes that nest tightly against one another. This position locks in the moisture of perspiration and bathing as well as the debris of the normal shedding of the skin.
All of the above predisposes the skin to maceration, irritation and tearing, which permits the entry of fungus (athlete's foot), bacterial infections and/or may cause ulcerations. Debridement, gentle washing, thorough gentle drying and the insertion of proper medications are necessary to prevent and/or treat such problems.
As toe conditions vary, so must the kind of materials used in their hygiene. Debriding a dry skin is best done with a soft foam. Washing a macerated toe is best done with a soft soapy gauze. Drying is better done with a soft absorbent material, etc.
To achieve such proper hygiene the toes must be moved and separated as little as possible so as not to stretch and tear the tender skin, especially in the web areas. Often the use of one's fingers to separate toes is enough to cause such harm. The problems of proper hygiene are compounded as those most in need of such care, the elderly, the infirm and the obese, find it difficult and often impossible to see and reach the toes for the delicate necessary care.
A device to achieve care of the area between toes has been attempted. Soft foam pads have been firmly attached to an underlying skeleton formed by two parallel runs originating in a handle. Such device is entirely rigid and the skeletal arms which are inserted between the toes is a rigid plastic, one eighth of an inch square with sharply defined edges. The foam, which extends beyond the skeleton, is wedge shaped, designed to separate the toes and act as a guide for the remainder of the device.
The materials, size and shape of the device cited presents inherent problems that make its use difficult, inappropriate and often impossible. The wedge shaped front end of foam extending beyond the supportive backing of the rigid skeletal is itself too soft and limp to be forced between tightly packed toes. Further, the soft wedge is then squeezed back on to the front of the rigid arms adding its thickness to the one eighth inch arms and the foam already secured there, making penetration between toes impossible without the spreading apart of the toes by the fingers. Further, if penetration is achieved with the spreading apart of the toes, the rigidity of the skeleton does not permit it to bend and change its shape to conform to the bumpy irregular shape of the toes and could, in conjunction with the square shaped edges of the skeletal arms, initiate the irritation of the tender tissues it was meant to prevent.
Thinner plastic arms are precluded because the device would then be too weak to withstand the stresses of use and would break, as plastics do, with sharp edges. Further, use of a thinner gauge of the same plastic would not increase its bendability. If other stronger plastics are used, there would be no increase in bendabilty, and it would still not have the benefits inherent in other materials to be cited in the present invention. Finally, the use of stronger plastics would bring up the price of manufacture. As such a device is designed to be used mainly by older people, most of whom are retired with a restricted income, price is an important factor in their decision of whether they will take advantage of the benefits such a device provides.
Further, it should be noted that the above device is available with only one type of surface adhered to its plastic skeleton. If the use of materials other than soft foam was indicated and desired, an entire complete device would have to be purchased, if it was available.
Further, such devices with other materials attached, such as cloths, felts and the like, extended beyond the support of the skeleton would also be limp and would not ameliorate the problem of introducing the device between the toes. Further, the bunching of such materials, rougher than a soft foam, would increase the probability of doing harm to the skin of the toes.
It has been found that with the use of other materials for the skeleton arms, such as a resilient flexible wire, the area of the skeleton between the toes can be reduced by a factor of twenty five while the danger of breaking under the pressures it would be subjected to would be nil. Further, such a resilient flexible wire could easily change shape and accommodate itself to the various deformities and irregularities of toes. Further, use of such wire, or the like, would easily allow permanent changes in the shape of the skeleton that would permit different materials such as clothes, foams, felts etc., fabricated in the shape of a sleeve, to be easily changed and secured.
The object of this invention is to overcome the above stated deficiencies while including all possible benefits.